The present application relates generally to a vehicle lamp assembly and to a closeout for a vehicle lamp assembly.
A closeout is a member, made of an elastic material, that extends around the perimeter or portion of the perimeter of a vehicle lamp, and may be used to close the gap between the lamp and adjacent closures. For example, closeouts are often used between a headlamp assembly and a vehicle hood. There are several common types, including lip seal closeouts, cantilever-type sealing lips, and bulb designs. Lip seals work well when a leading edge of the hood shingles over top of a portion of the headlamp lens to fill a vertical gap, and bulb seals may be used for such arrangements. However, these two types are not particularly desirable for hood-to-lamp designs where there is a fore-aft gap between the leading edge of the hood and the rear of the headlamp lens.
In the past, cantilever-type closeouts have been used to bridge large fore-aft gaps (six to eight millimeters) between the hood and the headlamp. For appearance reasons, it is desirable to reduce the gaps between the body panels, and this includes the gaps between the headlamp and its surrounding body parts. Such a fore-aft gap may be, for example, only two to four millimeters (including variation). Even with reduced gaps, a closeout is still desirable in a fore-aft gap between the hood and the headlamp in order to maintain an acceptable appearance. Lens overhangs (shark fins) have been employed to allow for the use of a cantilever-type closeout with small fore-aft gaps.
FIG. 6 illustrates a prior art cantilever-type headlamp closeout 200 and headlamp assembly 202, with a hood 203 in an over-travel position. A headlamp housing 204 is secured to and supports a headlamp lens 206. The lens 206 includes a forward portion 208 that has an overhang (shark fin) 210 extending from its aft end, and a rear portion 212 upon which the cantilever-type (lip seal) closeout 200 is supported. The closeout 200 is made of a flexible elastic material. It includes a base portion 216 that is positioned next to the rear portion 212 under the shark fin 210, and a cantilever portion 218 that extends out under the hood 203. The cantilever portion 218 closes off the fore-aft gap between the shark fin 210 and a leading edge 220 of the hood 203. The flexibility of the cantilever portion 218 allows it to bend downward (as seen in FIG. 6) when the hood 203 over-travels and spring back when the hood 203 is in its nominal position. The shark fin lens overhang 210 allows room to package the base portion 216 of the cantilever style closeout 200 while not interfering with the cantilever portion 218 bending down under hood over-travel conditions—even when the hood 203, during assembly, is mounted in its forward most position due to part and build variation.
While the shark fin 210 on the lens 206 allows for the use of the cantilever-type closeout 200 with a small fore-aft gap between the lens 206 and hood leading edge 220, the shark fin lens flange extending aft of the main portion of the lens does not create a desirable aesthetic appearance and so is not desirable. Eliminating the shark fin 210 while maintaining the small fore-aft gap, however, does not allow room to prevent the base portion 216 from interfering with the cantilever portion 218 if variation places the hood 203 in its most forward position. In such a situation, rather than the cantilever portion 218 bending, the base portion 216 would be crushed down against the lens 206, imparting undesirable forces directly into the lens 206. And, as a matter of fact, even with a shark fin, loads may still be imparted from the hood 203, through the closeout 200 and into the lens 206 since the base portion 216 is positioned directly on the lens 206. These forces imparted to the lens 206 may induce stresses in a glue joint 224 between the lens 206 and housing 204, which is undesirable. Consequently, this cantilever-type headlamp closeout 200 is less than optimal for achieving the desired functional and aesthetic characteristics in the headlamp to hood gap.
Moreover, for many closeouts, the mounting of the closeout is accomplished with adhesives. But adhesive attachment can be relatively high in cost and may present issues related to placement repeatability.
Thus, it is desirable to provide a closeout that will fill a small fore-aft gap between a headlamp lens and hood leading edge, without requiring the use of a shark fin flange on the lens, in order to meet aesthetic requirements. Also, it is desirable that such a closeout will avoid imparting loads directly to the lens, and will be relatively easy to mount in the proper location.